


nox

by bonebo



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Drugging, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Needles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-05 23:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10319267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonebo/pseuds/bonebo
Summary: In the Soldier Enhancement Program, before the days of Overwatch and when the world teetered on crisis, heroes were made.Jesse’s heard the stories, just like everyone else--heard of the brave men and women who volunteered for the project, gave their bodies to science to take and break and reinvent, recreate in a better, stronger image. He’s seen the plaques at the museums dedicated to the Crisis, golden lists of names as long as his arm: those who tried, and failed, to make themselves good enough, fast enough, strong enough, to save the world.Not everyone could be a hero.





	

In the Soldier Enhancement Program, before the days of Overwatch and when the world teetered on crisis, heroes were made.

Jesse’s heard the stories, just like everyone else--heard of the brave men and women who volunteered for the project, gave their bodies to science to take and break and reinvent, recreate in a better, stronger image. He’s seen the plaques at the museums dedicated to the Crisis, golden lists of names as long as his arm: those who tried, and failed, to make themselves good enough, fast enough, strong enough, to save the world.

Not everyone could be a hero.

But luckily for them--for Jesse, for the United Nations, for humanity as a whole--they didn’t need everyone.

They only needed a few, as it turned out; five people, coming together into one team. Led by a man who would become an unknown legend, pulled from the streets of L.A. and turned into a super soldier, his name the reason for their victory but never littering the history books: Gabriel Reyes, unsung hero of the Omnic Crisis and saviour of humanity, the fearless leader battling on the front lines with the whole world on his shoulders.

They won the war, because of Gabriel Reyes--because of his strength, his bravery.

And now he lays here in Jesse’s standard-issue bed, writhing like the sheets are aflame and grinding his teeth to keep from screaming.

“Gabe...god, sweetheart,” Jesse says, like this time the words will stop Gabriel’s torture--he’s been on his knees beside his bed for what feels like hours, holding Gabriel’s hand and praying for the painkillers to kick in, suffering through watching the strongest man he knows war with his own body and lose. “Let me help you, is--is there anything I can do, anything I can get that would make you feel better--?”

“ _Pills_ ,” Gabriel barks out, his voice a raw, hoarse thing; and Jesse winces, brings Gabriel’s hand to his lips to kiss his knuckles lightly. He can taste the salt of Gabriel’s sweat, even here.

Jesse sighs softly, prepares himself for the worst. He starts his apology with, “I can’t, darlin’, Angie said--”

“I don’t give a _fuck_ what she said!” Gabriel snarls, a wild look in his bloodshot eyes and sweat-dark curls plastered to his forehead when he jackknifes his body upright. His shoulders tremble, muscles jumping and twitching and out of his control, and Jesse can’t help but squeeze his hand tighter. “She doesn’t even know what’s _wrong!_ She knows _nothing!_ ”

Jesse knows Gabriel’s speaking harshly in his anger, in his pain--but even so, he’s not that far off. When Jesse had dragged her back to his room to examine the downed, thrashing commander, Angela’s worried diagnosis had been, _“From what I can tell, his nervous system is going haywire, stuck in a constant state of flight-or-fight mode. His muscles are demanding oxygen that his lungs can’t provide--imagine the worst cramping you’ve ever had, but in every muscle of your body, all at once. I’ve seen it documented before, in some of the SEP medical files...the theory is that it’s one of the side effects of their supersoldier cocktail.”_

At the time the concern and sympathy on her pretty face had been genuine, but so was the helplessness. She had given Jesse a bottle of painkillers and a single syringe full of clear fluid-- _”Only use this if he starts hurting himself, and I mean that, Jesse”_ \--and left again, with Gabriel’s screams chasing her as she all but ran down the hallway.

That had been nearly an hour ago. And now, Jesse is still stuck here with his lover tangled in his sheets, on the brink of tears and slowly being driven half-mad with a pain he can’t escape from, an agony he can’t manage. It’s a look Jesse’s never seen on Gabriel before, something so exposed and vulnerable and hurting, and it’s one he hopes with all his might that he never has to see again.

“Shh, shh...oh, babydoll,” he murmurs, looking up at Gabriel sadly; the commander’s body locks up again, and he falls back down to the mattress with an agonized cry grating through his clenched teeth. Jesse has to look away, this time--can only stare at the floor and press desperate kisses against Gabriel’s captive hand and listen to his groaning screaming, because he can’t stand to watch him seize again. He feels helpless like this--caught at the mercy of Gabriel’s pain, without anything to do but hope it passes--and his eyes wander back to the syringe just as Gabriel brokenly rasps, _“Jessito…”_

Jesse sighs, and bows his head, and weighs his options. It’s Gabriel’s hitched, pleading little whine that eventually makes his decision.

“Angie’s gonna be mad as a wet hen if she finds out,” he mutters, getting up off his knees and grabbing the needle; it feels heavy in his palm as he walks back, and he can just barely catch his reflection in the fluid, unease coiling in his gut at the uncertainty he finds in his own eyes. It’s scarily easy to inject Gabriel--to just stab the needle into the thick meat of his arm, look away from the wince that flashes over his face--and when it’s over he sits back heavily, throws the syringe aside like if he holds it for a second more it’ll stab him, too.

Jesse chews his bottom lip, thinking out loud; rationalizing. Excusing. “But if the damn dose isn’t strong enough to work…”

“I’ll be fine,” Gabriel hisses, but there’s something in his voice--under the anger and the frustration and the agony, a palpable relief. It just about makes Jesse’s heart break all over again.

“Just tell me if you need anything else, sugar,” he says, as he lays himself down by Gabriel’s side and drapes an arm over Gabriel’s chest. The twitching has stopped, for now; Jesse can pull Gabriel against his chest and hold him there, kiss at his temple to feel the pulsing vein and whisper comfort into his sweaty hair. He only notices Gabriel has fallen asleep when his harsh gasps of pain turn into slower, deeper breaths, and as he gazes down at Gabriel’s lax, undisturbed face, he can only hope that peace lasts until dawn.


End file.
